The Treehouse Cafe in its lovely location next to the Lynwood Theater is one of my favorite places. They serve a really good Cobb salad with bleu cheese dressing; unless you like lox in thick-cut hunks, stay away from the bagel and lox sandwich. (Maybe they thought extra lox is a good idea, Seattle and all?)

We tried San Carlos on Friday (when they’re open for lunch), and they served superb grilled halibut tacos, the best B’s ever had. My order was quite good too, a really satisfying grilled veggie quesadilla with goat cheese. We’ll be back for sure.

Last weekend we took the kids to eat at Aladdin’s Palace in Silverdale. It’s mediterranean/Middle Eastern cuisine, so I loved just the idea of it. We ordered the appetizer platter, which included pita bread, hummus, baba ganoush, spiced cauliflower, tabbouleh, stuffed grape leaves, and falafel. S. got an order of soup (lentil and fava bean, I think), and we all shared an order of chicken shish kebab.

The fact that we were sharing everything isn’t because their portions are too big, it’s that everything was so incredibly good (and oh yeah, the kids had eaten a lot of candy at a party earlier). The host was really attentive and wanted to know if everything was perfect — I felt a little as if I were a guest at someone’s home. That’s a good thing. On the way out, their Lebanese chef heard B. speaking French, so he and B. conversed a little in their second tongues. As for my tongue, it’s been happy for days. I can’t wait to go back!